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My pursuit for a creative career began in the early years. Support from my peers and winning a 4th grade cursive hand writing competition made my choice easier.

In grade school my mother found out how serious I took my future. It started when I skipped 7th grade. In high school I played many sports, joined the sa… Read More

My pursuit for a creative career began in the early years. Support from my peers and winning a 4th grade cursive hand writing competition made my choice easier.

In grade school my mother found out how serious I took my future. It started when I skipped 7th grade. In high school I played many sports, joined the salsa club, student council and won 1st place multiple times in art competitions. The drive didn't stop there. Pressing on, I was accepted into the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago, became a director at Art Institute Ambassadors, residential advisor, and made the president's and deans list. My passion for creativity stayed strong during those extracurricular activities while working 3 jobs. After getting an agent I was a featured designer in fashion shows, modeled and appeared in magazines.

Eventually a feeling of responsibility set over me due to my family's "tradition" for serving our country. Honoring my family, I left college and joined the Marine Corps. There, I did one tour in Afghanistan, became a Sergeant, Machine Gunner, Martial Arts Instructor, SWAN/SMART Operator, redesigned the Headquarters Battalion logo, became an S-6 Chief and briefed majors and colonels on battalion readiness. Given much of my success and the jokes of being the "complete Marine" I felt it time to return to the creative world.

After, I graduated from Ai Chicago and landed an internship at the creative commune, thanks to Chuck Gniech. Later, Jim Dygas helped me land a position with commonground where I created on almost every account from Nike, Nissan, Illinois Lottery, NBC Universal, Primaloft to more. This was the springboard that propelled me forward to agencies like Walton Isaacson and Leo Burnett.

I've resigned as the Global Art Director over Racquet sports, Wilsons' largest business unit, where I lead a talented team of designers and writers. We provided creative UX/UI design, print, commercial, photoshoots, digital, social media marketing and campaign visual solutions. Now, I'm setting my sights on freelancing to help solve problems from digital, print, strategy to advertising. Read Less